Photographic Art Centre set to move to West Palm

Delray Beach — It was among the first arts organizations to set up shop in Pineapple Grove. It brought thousands of students a year. And after years of talking about moving, it finally is.

The Palm Beach Photographic Art Centre - a nonprofit photography school, museum and photo shop - is relocating next April to West Palm Beach's City Center, which is under construction downtown.

The center had been talking about moving since West Palm Beach officials unveiled plans for its city's waterfront in 2004. The new facility should be done in a year, and center officials say they are ready for the change.

"It's right on Clematis and we will be able to expand the museum," Fatima NeJame, center director, said. "It's very exciting for us."

At 33,000 square feet, the new space is three times the size of the current center. It also would include two studios, four classrooms, four computer labs and a theater facility for joint programming with the West Palm Beach downtown library.

The Photographic Centre is considered a bastion of cultural activity in the Grove. It brings thousands of people, including the "who's who" of photography - such as Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer David Hume Kennerly - to downtown for its yearly FotoFusion festival.

"We have people who come from all over the world," said NeJame's husband Art NeJame, who runs the center's photo shop.

Before settling in Delray Beach in 1995 at the old Ocean City Lumber building, the center operated out of a small space in Deerfield Beach and then Boca Raton, said NeJame. Then former Community Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Chris Brown recruited the center to be the anchor tenant of a budding Pineapple Grove Arts District.

"They were an important part of the revitalization of downtown," CRA Executive Director Diane Colonna said. "They contributed in giving us some focus in becoming known as an arts community."

Art galleries and artists spaces opened around them. But Fatima NeJame said many galleries, such as Native Florida, have left because of high rents. She said the district has seen an influx of spas and hair salons instead.

"We would like to see some of the art-related businesses come back," NeJame said. "But Delray has been good to us."

Though it is true some galleries have moved or closed, a few remain and a new batch of artists, such as Delray Beach's Salvatore Principe, are making the district home, said Stephanie Immelman, marketing director for the Pineapple Grove Arts District.

"There have been so many new businesses coming in," she said. "We're also bringing two Howard Allen [arts and crafts] shows to the district."

The Pineapple Grove Arts District has also become a sort of outdoor gallery with programs such as "Take it Easel," which showcases professional and amateur artists along Pineapple Grove Way.

Colonna said Pineapple Grove would still like to focus on the arts. The district recently received a grant from Palm Beach County to continue an art in public places program along Pineapple Grove Way.

Still, for some photography students, the move is bittersweet. Robert Riling, who has taken nearly a dozen workshops and seminars at the center, said that while the new school will have space for more workshops and students, the space in Delray Beach was convenient and kept Delray Beach on the cultural map.

"I'm disappointed we didn't make an effort to keep them here," said Riling, who lives on a boat in the city marina. "It will be a big loss for the city."

A Palm Beach County Cultural Council survey measured the Photographic Centre's economic impact at more than $58 million annually a few years ago.

"It has the largest impact of any cultural institution within the county," said Joan Goldberg, cultural liaison for the city of West Palm Beach. "It will be an anchor for all sorts of cultural organizations to grow around."

Maria Herrera can be reached at meherrera@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6544.